MIT Scales Up Homework Reviews
MIT researchers have developed a new system
to help instructors review computer science homework assignments in courses with
hundreds or thousands of students.
While instructors can easily create automated tests to determine whether
students' computer programs produce the correct results, it's challenging for
instructors to conduct a detailed analysis of the programming methods the
students used when a course has hundreds of students, or in the case of some
online courses, thousands of students.
The new system, called OverCode, analyses and compares students' computer
code, groups solutions that use the same techniques and creates a program
template for each technique. The system then displays the templates side-by-side
and highlights any differences between them. Instructors can view a list of
student programs that use each template.
The MIT researchers evaluated OverCode in two usability studies and will
present the results at the Association for
Computing Machinery's Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in
April. The studies involved 24 experienced programmers reviewing three different
programming assignments from thousands of students using both OverCode and
another tool that displays solutions one at a time. "When assessing the simplest
of the three assignments, the subjects analyzing raw code performed as well
those using OverCode," according to information from MIT. "For the most
difficult of the three assignments, however, the OverCode users covered about 45
percent of student responses, while the subjects analyzing raw data covered only
about 9 percent."
According to Elena Glassman, an MIT graduate student in computer science and
engineering and first author on the paper, the results of the study suggest that
OverCode is particularly useful for analysing more complex computer programming
assignments. The researchers also said they think the system could help instructors of
large online courses provide generalized feedback to more students and use the
information to improve both online and on-campus courses.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].